


Family Ties

by theauthor2010



Category: Glee
Genre: Brotherly Love, Bullying, Gen, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-31
Updated: 2011-03-31
Packaged: 2017-10-17 09:57:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/175610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theauthor2010/pseuds/theauthor2010
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn walks in on Burt and Carole in a private moment and realizes just how bad things have become for Kurt, bully-wise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Ties

**Author's Note:**

> Written in November.

I was just going to ask my mom where she stashed my extra football jersey when I walked in to the living room. I had barely opened my mouth when I saw her and Kurt's dad like I never imagined them. No, they weren’t doing anything creepy, thank God. It was even worse. Burt was clinging to my mom like a little kid, head against her shoulder and clutching her like I used to when I was like five. "I c-can't do a damned thing for the boy Carole," he said and he was sobbing. Like yeah, full on sobbing. Burt's like the manliest guy I know. That's saying something. He was completely losing his cool.

"Burt, honey, you do all you can..."

"The Hell I do," he said firmly. "He came home with a bruise the size of someone's hand on his neck."

Kurt.

I had noticed that bruise. I hadn't really thought about where it came from. Kurt would have told me if someone was hurting him, wouldn’t he? Karofsky and his guys had backed off Kurt, at least for awhile. It had been a long time since I checked though.

"Did you ask Kurt?"

Mom was always the sensible one. She would get to the bottom of this.

"Mhm."

He sobbed it out, one of those sobs that you never wanted to hear come from your father figure. "Kid was tryin' not to cry and ran downstairs. I went up to that school but that lunatic principal of theirs said he couldn't do shit without proof. How about the bruise on my kid and the fact that he's near breakdown mode half the time? He’s losing it Carole, I can tell. He just looks so damned hopeless all the time.”

He kind of did, didn’t he? I couldn’t help remember back to just yesterday, when Mr. Schue had been trying to get Kurt’s attention. He had been staring off, sadly, looking away from everyone. Now, I zone out a lot but it was different. It was like he was somewhere else altogether and hurt bad. Oh, I’m kind of an idiot, aren’t I?

"Oh Burt..."

"I'm a failure, plain and simple. I can't do a thing for him. She'd be so pissed off if she was here. Everything I do..."

I watched my mom pull him close, like she was going to hug him, but instead she pulled his head into her lap. "Lie still Burt," she said in that firm mom tone she'd been using on me for years. She was lightly running her hand over his forehead. "I won't have you exerting yourself like this."

"What the hell does it matter?" he mumbled so low I almost couldn't hear. I could tell he was still crying though. "I kick it and Kurt's no better or worse off..."

I had two options.

One, I try my best to turn back and walk into the kitchen.

Two, I picked two. It had to be a better option.

"He fell apart when he thought he'd lose you," I said, making myself known. "I'm sorry for interrupting but it's true... you're everything to Kurt. He...needs you. I'm so sorry I wasn't paying attention to Kurt... I didn't think about it. I'll work harder to like protect him from now on, and totally take down those guys single handed if it comes to that, and if, if either of you wants to stop me that'd be great."

I don't have much filter in my brain. Rachel says that's bad but dude, she's Rachel. She’s not exactly known for her epic filters.

My mom looked at me with tears in her eyes. Shit, what did I do? Oh wait, proud tears. Yeah. "Hey look I got a smart kid," she said softly.

Burt looked up at me. "Ain't your job to watch Kurt, but thank you." He looked humiliated. Man, it was the most embarrassing thing to be caught crying and once again - this was Burt Hummel. Maybe I should have chosen option one but I couldn’t just let this go.

"Yeah it is," I insisted. "Kurt's really my brother."

He sat up and leaned into my mom's side, probably to convince her he wasn’t going to give himself another heart attack. It took a lot to convince my mom you were listening to her when you didn’t want to. “You’ve really come far,” he said, calmer.

Had I?

“I guess I have,” I mumbled. I couldn’t help remember being a part of the bullying that made Kurt so miserable before. I’m no Karfosky, not at all – I never laid a hand on the kid, but I let the guys do stupid things and even took part in them. I hate to admit it but sometimes popularity means more to me than it should. I want to do better and I have done better but sometimes it’s hard not to give into the peer pressure. It’s hard not to get angry at Kurt for making a show for the bullies – then I realize that Kurt isn’t making a show for the bullies. He’s being himself. He’s being proud of who he is. “I know I was a part of it at one time and I promise I’ll keep an eye out for Kurt and make it better, somehow.”

“I was a part of it too,” Burt said, honestly. It’s hard to imagine him as just another teenage jock when he’s kind of super-dad to Kurt. I mean, I thought he was going to kill me when I said those things that I didn’t mean – yeah the one’s that I don’t speak about anymore. “Kid, I was sixteen once. I told ya before. It’s just…Kurt goes through so much hell here and I wish there was more any of us could do.”

“We’ll have to work harder then,” I said boldly.

Mom practically gushed at me. “See that?” she told Burt seriously. “See that? My boy is all grown up and things are gonna be okay. We’re going to work together as a family now to get Kurt back to a good place. We’re gonna do everything we can for that kid because he’s one of ours.”

“He is,” I said.

Mom looked embarrassed for a second. “Burt, can I tell him?”

He nodded a little bit, still trying to get rid of the pesky tears he had been crying. Poor guy, yeah this was embarrassing but it was all good right? Mom and I wouldn’t tell a soul he cried.

“Yeah, go ahead. I was waiting for Kurt to get home so we could tell both of you at once but hey, now’s as good of a time as any.”

“What?” I asked.

Before she could even speak I noticed the ring on my mother’s finger. Oh man. A long time ago I would have freaked out seeing that but now I was actually pretty happy. If this scene meant anything, they really needed each other and we kind of needed our joint family to get each other through things we normally couldn’t handle. “Are you two…really?”

“Mhm!” she said brightly and I couldn’t help approve.

“Good,” I said. I heard a door slam in the front and knew Kurt was home. I left my mom and Burt so I could go hug the kid. Sometimes, he needed that.


End file.
